I did see something strange recently with Austrian €20 notes. All the Series two euro notes are following a normal numbering pattern. The print works followed by the prefix letter followed by the numbers. It looks like number ranges are allocated within the sequence when print works are allocated their print quotas. As there are various print works for the same prefix letters. The letters for all the denominations issued so far are running in order, A, B, C etc. Except for a batch of Austrian €20 notes which have the prefix NA and also the last prefix NZ.

I agree that the euro is missing many of the features that we would normally find interesting such as dates, replacements, consecutive numbers and low serial numbers. However, the serial and plate code numbers add some interest and some collectors focus on building a collection based on various country and print code combinations. Given the many permutations, I prefer to take a more parochial view and restrict my collecting of euro notes to those with the Irish country code, T.

The Europa Series, was introduced in 2013 and the issue continues today. To date, there is just one general type with signature of Mario Draghi, ECB President. The attached Table provides an overview of notes issued to date by printers across the Euro Zone.

It would be a considerable task to collect all the denominations issued by the various printers so another approach could be to focus on the issues of a particular country. The Central Bank of Ireland has issued 5, 10 and 20 euro Europa notes so a basic type note collection for Ireland would require just 3 notes. A more detailed collection based on print plate codes would require 10 notes.

Dedicated euro note collectors collect by print plate code number. Print plate code numbers observed for Europa series notes issued by The Central Bank of Ireland are given in the attached Table. There are 5 different print plate codes for the 5 euro notes, 4 for the 10 euro notes and the situation for the newly issued 20 euro note is not known at this point. The 10 euro notes are unusual in having two prefixes, TA and TD associated with the T004 print plate code.

I agree that the euro notes lack the variety and interest of the earlier issues of The Central Bank of Ireland and Currency Commission. However, the euro is the currency that goes through our hands every day and I live in hope that something interesting will turn up. I did not collect the Lavery, Series B or Series C notes when they circulated and that was a missed opportunity.

Here are images of the new Europa Series 20 euro note printed by The Central Bank of Ireland. As mentioned previously by JohnnyQ, 2 print plates codes have been observed, T002 and T005. The year mentioned on the note is 2015 but this relates to the first introduction of Europa Series notes. We have not seen the Irish examples until 2019.

Only a handful of Irish H004 20 euro notes have found their way to the collecting community. I have seen no runs in UNC although this is always a possibility for a modern note. The Irish notes are an anomaly as most of the H004 run was issued with Portuguese serial numbers by De La Rue, UK.